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This Week@WesternU, June 13-17, 2016

by Rodney Tanaka

June 13, 2016

Read 5 mins

WesternU’s Towne & Gown Golf Classic set for June 27
Western University of Health Sciences invites the public to an exciting day of golf to benefit student scholarships.

The 6th annual Towne & Gown Golf Classic will be played Monday, June 27, 2016 at Red Hill Country Club, 8358 Red Hill Country Club Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730. Registration and lunch starts at 11 a.m., followed by a noon shotgun start. A dinner and awards ceremony will follow.

Click here to read the full story.

Click here to visit the Towne & Gown website and to register for the tournament.

 

Helicopter Drop
Everyone is invited to join the Towne & Gown Golf Classic Helicopter Drop. Whether you’re at the golf course or not, you will be able to tune in and catch the live streaming action here: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETGWesternU/live. The helicopter team will dump numbered golf balls over a designated hole, and the owner of the ball that lands in the hole (or closest to the pin) will win the 50-50 cash prize. This is another exciting way to benefit the Towne & Gown Endowed Scholarship Fund. Contact Courtney Schultz at 909-469-8495 or cschultz@westernu.edu for more information.

Click here to view the flier.

 

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Kudos on accomplishments
Department of Basic Medical Science faculty members Dr. Xiaoning Bi published two articles in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences and Neurobiology of Disease, and Dr. Vishy Venketaraman published an article in BBA Clinical:

Sun, J.; Liu, Y.; Tran, J.; O’Neal, P.; Baudry, M.; and Bi X. (2016) mTORC1-S6K1 inhibition or mTORC2 activation improves hippocampal synaptic plasticity and learning in Angelman syndrome mice. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2016 May 12. [Epub ahead of print]

Wang, Y.; Lopez, D.; Gavey, P.G.; Cameron, J.; Nguyen. K.; Tran, J.; Marquez, E.; Liu, Y.; Bi, X.; and Baudry M (2016) Prevention of retinal ganglion cell degeneration by a selective calpain-2 inhibitor in mouse models of acute glaucoma. Neurobiol Dis. 2016 May 13. pii: S0969-9961(16)30101-2. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2016.05.007. [Epub ahead of print]

Saing T; Lagman M; Castrillon J; Gutierrez E; Guilford F; Venketaraman V (2016) Analysis of Glutathione levels in the Brain tissue samples from HIV-Positive Individuals and subject with Alzheimer’s disease and its implication in the pathophysiology of the disease process. BBA Clin (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbacli.2016.05.006)

The COMP-Northwest Lifestyle Medicine Track, led by Dr. Louise Muscato, Course Director, has sought out national programs and selected leading experiential curriculum to advance medical student education. One example is the CHIP (Community Health Improvement Program). CHIP has been successfully used with more than 60,000 participants in four continents. COMP-Northwest LM Track and LC3 students went through CHIP training to be certified facilitators.  Students assisted the Lebanon Samaritan Community Hospital in piloting the first CHIP class offered to the community from March 29 to May 26, 2016. In each of the 18 CHIP class sessions, the LM and LC3 students demonstrated healthy cooking and healthy diet options, working alongside Samaritan medical physicians and dieticians. Twenty-five community participants found the CHIP to be positive in making lifestyle changes.  More classes are now being scheduled beginning September 19, 2016.

CHIP is a national lifestyle enrichment program designed to reduce disease risk factors through the adoption of better health habits and appropriate lifestyle modifications. The goal is to lower blood cholesterol, hypertension, and blood sugar levels and reduce excess weight. This is done by improving dietary choices, enhancing daily exercise, increasing support systems and decreasing stress, thus aiding in preventing and reversing disease.  Program results have been published in more than 20 scientific articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, including the American Journal of Cardiology, the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, and Preventive Medicine.  CHIP is endorsed by the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and the International Nutrition Research Foundation. https://www.chiphealth.com/

 

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Kudos on accomplishments
CVM Professor Tracey McNamara was published in a peer-reviewed theme publication, ILAR (Institute for Laboratory Animal Research) last year. The article, “Wildlife Pathology Studies and How They Can Inform Public Health,” discussed how many of the disease outbreaks take the public health system by surprise and cites the West Nile Virus as one.

“Eye Histology and Ganglion Cell Topography of Northern Elephant Seals (mirounga angustirostris)” is the name of an article published in the Anatomical Record by CVM Associate Professor Hrvoje Smodlaka, CVM Professor Wael Khamas, Dr. Lauren Palmer (The Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, California), Dr. Bryan Lui (DMV 2014), Dr. Josip A. Borovac (School of Medicine, University of Split, Split, 21000, Croatia), Dr. Brian A. Cohn and Dr. Lars Schmitz (Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Scripps Colleges, WM Keck Science Department, Claremont), was published in the March 2016 Anatomical Record in Wiley Online Library.

CVM Assistant Professor Jijun Hao has been invited to serve as a lead guest editor for a special issue of the Stem Cell International Journal. The special issue is titled “Regulation of Stemness in Carcinoma Cells.” Dr. Hao has invited four of his colleagues as guest editors to help him for this journal issue. They are from Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Loma Linda University, Baylor College of Medicine and Osaka University in Japan.

 

From the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences:

Kudos on accomplishments
Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences Associate Professor Fanglong Dong, PhD, in collaboration with Michael Neeki, DO, of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, and second-year COMP student Jake Toy, along with other collaborators, had a paper accepted for publication. They used a database from ARMC trauma to analyze the effect of methamphetamine on ejection fraction. Neeki MM, Kulczycki M, Toy J, Dong F, Lee C, Borger R, and Adigopula S.  Frequency of Methamphetamine Use as a Major Contributor Towards the Severity of Cardiomyopathy Among Adults ≤50 Years of Age.  American Journal of Cardiology.  2016.  (in press)

Dr. Dong, Dr. Neeki, Jake Toy and their collaborators had another paper accepted for publication. This study aimed to identify the wasted time between the estimate time of arrival and actual time of arrival when EMS is transporting patients to ARMC. The authors reported a median difference of nine minutes for the discrepancy. The citation is Neeki MM, MacNeil C, Toy J, Dong F, Powell J, Pennington T, and Kwong E.  Accuracy of perceived estimated travel time by EMS to a trauma center in San Bernardino County, California.  Western Journal of Emergency Medicine.  2016.  (in press).

Dr. Dong had three collaborative posters with pharmacy residents and physicians at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center’s 11th Annual Research Day May 27, 2016 in Colton, California. Dr. Dong is an official member on the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). His major responsibilities include overseeing study design, database template, data collection quality, data analysis, and publication.

Mouazzen W, Dong F, Villegas R, El-Hajjaoui R, Raoufi K. ICU Readmission: Predictors for MICU readmission.

Chen J, Landis C, Lowe A, Pop L, Dong F. Discordance of the three different GFR estimating equations in dosing Vancomcyin.

Zakhary M, Kayali Z, Lowe A, Pop L, Dong F. Long-term liver-related complications in patients treated for Hepatitis C.

 

From University Advancement:

Alumni news
The Alumni Office is promoting several upcoming events over the next few weeks. Click on the links below for details or to register to attend:

6-8 p.m. Thursday, June 16: WesternU Alumni Networking Mixer at El Torito Grill in Sherman Oaks

6-8 p.m. Friday, June 24: WesternU Dinner at the California Podiatric Medical Association’s Western Foot & Ankle Conference in Anaheim

5:30-7 p.m. Saturday, June 25: WesternU Reception at the California Veterinary Medical Association’s Pacific Veterinary Conference in San Francisco

11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, June 27: WesternU Towne & Gown Golf Classic at Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga

11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 29: WesternU PA Career Expo in the Health Sciences Center on campus

5:30-10 p.m. Friday, July 1: WesternU Reception & Baseball Game at the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting in Boston

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